Grain Free / Paleo Jewish Holiday ebook Cookbook

As I’m preparing for Passover (I’ll bet you are too!), I came across a really cute and helpful looking e-book called, Yiddish Kitchen – Grain Free Jewish Recipes for the Holidays and Everyday. Its not free and its not on Amazon either. Its available here on sale for $14.99 and is well worth it since its authors are grain free/Paleo bloggers who have created a great kosher Jewish style handbook with delicious and healthy grain and gluten free recipes that will definitely come in handy this Passover and all year round.

Here’s to hoping your Passover preparations are going well. Wishing you a happy and healthy Passover!

With Passover around the corner, these grain-free and Paleo cookbooks will come in very handy. For the next 24 hours the prices range from $0 to $1.99. You can read them on your PC, mac, Ipad, Kindle or any other device. Grab this batch, get some great new Passover recipes and hey, use them throughout the year to get fit and healthy.

I’ve seen Danielle Walker’s NY Time’s Best Selling Against All Grain cookbook in Costco recently and wanted to buy it. I’m glad I didn’t because it is now $1.99 on Amazon ebooks.
And here are some more healthy cookbooks for great prices!

Many of us recall that horrible moment – only a month ago – when innocent men were murdered and others gravely injured in what is now known as the Har Nof Massacre. As a way to raise money for the families left behind, as well as the spirits of all of us deeply effected by such a horrid act of terrorism, in today’s day – not the days of the Holocaust- Feldheim has just published a book called, Living On – The Story of the Har Nof Massacre. All proceeds of the book go to the victims of the Har Nof Massacre.

If you’ve been wanting to help the victims families, there are a few funds that have been set up – and buying this book is one of them.

Here is an excerpt from the book:

” 6:57 am: 39 men daven at a neighborhood shul in Har Nof, Jerusalem
7:08 am: 4 of them lie murdered al Kiddush Hashem, following the massacre that rocked the Jewish world.

This story shocked us all. This book keeps its flame alive in our hearts.

In the aftermath of an inconceivable tragedy came an outpouring of unprecedented chesed, Jewish unity… and also burning questions:

How? Why? What now?

This book goes far beyond the sensationalist headlines and finds meaningful answers in the personal accounts of eyewitnesses and bereaved family members; in the incredible stories of life-saving miracles, sacrifice and love; and in the insights of the leading Rabbis of our generation, who illuminate the darkness with essential lessons for our time.”

Chanukah House Contest – Win Lots of Money!

Finally, Manischewitz has their annual Chanukah House contest where people can design a Chanukah House using the Chanukah House Decorating Kit, share a picture of your decorated Cookie Chanukah House on the Manischewitz® Facebook page (www.facebook.com/Manischewitz) and be entered into the contest to win up to $2,000!

The Grand Prize Winner will receive $2,000

Second Prize $1,000, and

Third Prize receives $500.

Contest ends December 23,2014. You must be 18 years of age or older to enter the contest, however, minors under the age of 18 can submit their entry with parental permission, using a parent or guardian’s e-mail address. There is a limit of one online entry per person. For a complete list of rules, please visit www.Facebook.com/manischewitz or visit their website www.manischewitz.com/chrules.

Wishing all my Kosher Shopaholic fans and readers a happy and healthy Chanukah!

I recently received review copies of my favorite parenting expert’s latest books, Raise Your Kids Without Raising Your Voiceand The Fear Fix– Solutions for every child’s moments of worry, panic and fear. While I was very excited to read “Raise Your Kids Without Raising Your Voice” uchum, for obvious reasons, The Fear Fix was on a back burner. Then, a few weeks later, the school year began with my 3rd grader developing a phobia of bees. Actually, of the wasps that were swarming around the entrance of his school. His fear was so severe that his teacher had to call me in one day to help convince him to go outside (to get home). I remember once hearing a saying, “the refuah is always given before the makka” translated that means that G-d always sends the cure before he sends the ailment. In my case this was literally true. Sitting on top of my “To Do” pile was nothing other than, The Fear Fix – solutions for your child’s phobia! What a relief! I quickly read through The Fear Fix and began applying many of its suggestions and within one week, his phobia was reduced to a mild anxiety and within a month, his mild anxiety was pretty much gone (and so, finally, were those pesty scary wasps!).

Author Sarah Chana Radcliffe also allowed me to review her audio class on using Bach Flower Remedies. As an avid user of essential oils (I use them for healing colds, back aches, in my own home-made deodorant, moisturizer and cleaning solutions), I was very excited to learn about these complimentary products. After listening the the tape and reading The Fear Fix, here is a short summary of the steps I took to help my son overcome his bee phobia.

1. The day I was called into school, I had recently finished the Back Flower Remedies audio class and had a brand new bottle of “Rescue Remedy” in my purse. I put a few drops of it in my son’s water bottle and told him that the drops were supposed to help him feel less anxious about the bees. He liked that idea a lot. Whether Rescue Remedy actually did the job of calming him or if it was a simple Placebo Effect, can be fodder for pages and pages of discussion, but for my purposes, regardless, it was working! Giving him a ‘remedy’ definitely helped him feel calm and happy the rest of the day.

2. I bought “Mimulus Flower Remedy” and began giving drops to my son four times a day, as recommended in the tape. I chose Mimulus because it was the remedy for ‘fear of specific things like dogs, lightning, etc…”. My son had a specific fear of the wasps. Again, he immediately seemed calmer and more secure at the idea of walking through the doors to his school, even though there were wasps flying around.

3. I began using techniques from the book that Radcliffe calls, a “fear soothing toolkit”. Some techniques in this toolkit are: emotional coaching, parental presence, redirecting attention, move fear with facts, gradual exposure, using positive imagination, along with other techniques such as teaching emotional regulation, ‘tapping’ and Bach Flower Remedies. Since I completed an MSW four years ago, some of the techniques were familiar to me, but the book was definitely an excellent review to remind me of the techniques and how to use them. I began with ’emotional coaching’ then moved on to ‘moving the fear with facts’ as well as ‘using positive imagination’. We showed my son some age appropriate bee pictures and videos (one of which was a man with a beard full of bees that my son found to be so incredibly funny that he laughed about it for days) and helped him become a mini bee ‘expert’. He knows all the types of bees, wasps and hornets that can be found along with how painful their stings are.

4. Today, my son seems to be over his fear of the wasps. Next bee season; however, I may have to apply some of the techniques over again of he gets jittery around bees and wasps – but I’m pretty sure the phobia piece is completely gone. I continued the Mimulus Flower Remedy for a few months, even once he was past the wasp fear because I felt it helped him feel less anxious and more secure overall. Whether the remedy has true efficacy or if it is a placebo again doesn’t matter because the Bach Remedies are perfectly safe and have no side effects – so if its merely a security blanket, I’m all for it.

I really enjoyed reading The Fear Fix– it was a great primer (or in my case review) for using simple yet extremely effective therapeutic techniques to help you raise emotionally healthy children. Sarah Chana Radcliffe is a well educated professional and parenting expert whose guidance and material is, in my opinion, top notch. For more information about using Bach Flower Remedies, you can visit Sarah Chana Radcliffe’s website . There is also a section on using the Bach Remedies in The Fear Fix,along with great overall parenting coaching techniques that are useful to all parents – whether dealing with a dominant fear or not. Radcliffe’s books can all be found on Amazon and “Raising Your Kids without Raising Your Voice” was rated as one of Amazon Editors’ favorite books of the year.

I had the pleasure of visiting my friend Chana Lee, aka, The Challah Fairy, for brunch on a very busy erev Shabbos (Thursday afternoon). Chana Lee graciously offered me a tour of her heavenly kitchen. Below is a brief photo essay of the sensual experience. Smell the delicacies with your eyes, or visit The Challah Fairy in New City, New York in person, to experience it with the rest of your senses!

For those of you who aren’t yet familiar with The Challah Fairy, it is a dairy restaurant/café located in New City, New York under Rabbinical supervision of Rabbi Zushe Blech. They serve a really delicious spread of breakfasts and lunches as well as cater for many local events and businesses. The café is most famous for its Challah French Toast (which my out of town guests came back for daily while visiting with us) as well as their cinnamon crumb, raisin or chocolate chip crumb challahs. As someone who doesn’t eat wheat/flour products, I found the quiches and salads to be as satisfyingly deliecious as the baked goods smelled and looked! We of course, took a sampling of Challahs, rugelach, cookies and cakes home to enjoy with the rest of my family for Shabbos. If you are unable to come visit the café in Rockland County, you might get lucky and find The Challah Fairy Challahs in a store near you.

There are some great Melissa & Doug puzzles and toys already on sale and then with this code you get another 30% off. If you grab them now, you’ll have them in time to keep your kids busy this coming Yom Kippor!

Wishing you all a g’mar tov – a good and healthy year and an easy fast this coming Yom Kippor Shabbat.

While standing in my kitchen earlier today, like most of us, preparing for the six yontif meals that lay ahead of us, I was thinking about you, my dear faithful KosherShopaholic readers. I was thinking about how much I wanted to share with you all: some recipes, shopping suggestions and warm, inspiring New Year greetings.

First, I wanted to tell you that the two kitchen gadgets you MUST have before Rosh Hashana this year are this handy apple corer
that will save you so much time and energy while you prepare the festive apples and honey for your families. I also can never say enough about this ever faithful Braun food processor with which I make and prep everything from cakes to dips to grated or chopped veggies. Buy yourself and/or your hostess a gift this Rosh Hashana – an apple corer like this one from Amazon and/or a Braun food processor.
Throw in the new Artscroll Living Emuna book, that Rabbi Pesach Krohn recommended to me in his pre-rosh hashana shiur/class that I listened to while cooking earlier today.

I also found a new salad recipe that is perfect for Rosh Hashana since it contains apples and is also really tasty and healthy.

If you’re looking for a nice night out in New York City without breaking the bank, I highly recommend this Groupon. Talia’s Kosher Steakhouse has offered this groupon in the past and I’ve bought it and been very happy with my meal and even happier with the price. Pictured in this post is the steak salad that I always order and love. This Groupon offers a great meal in the city with really nice ambience for a price that can’t be beat. Talia’s offers excellent steak, Moroccan-style salmon, pan-seared duck, braised lamb, and a fully stocked bar. They also offer live mellow rock on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday evenings, and french doors swing open onto a large sidewalk patio when weather permits.

There are a lot of things that I love about summer time but one of the things I love the most is finally being able to barbecue. My BBQ steaks are tastier than any fancy restaurant – just ask my husband and so is my chicken. Maybe its my recipes or maybe its the organic healthy ingredients I use. Or a combination of both. My favorite place to order healthy organic, pasture-raised Kosher chickens and meats is from KOL Foods. And lucky for us, they are running a contest where you can win $135 worth of Organic Kosher chicken! Visit KOL foods here to enter the contest and win! And treat your families to some delicious barbecues all summer long.

To go along with your healthy organic, pasture raised chicken that you either buy or win (or both) from KOL Foods, here’s my mother’s recipe for a sweet, savory whole BBQ chicken (one of the first recipes I shared on this site) – it is so easy and so delectable, you will be making it all summer long. Its on my BBQ for supper tonight, as I write this. Here’s the link to this simple and delicious BBQ whole Chicken recipe – the secret is to use your actual barbecue!